I MADE THE DIY ART STUDIO OF MY DREAMS complete makeover ✿

Okay, it's time to clean this. If you're new here, hello, my name is Tina. I make DIY and home videos every single week, and as you can tell by the background, I am also the world's messiest DIYer. I just cannot be bothered to clean my area whenever I work on a project. It has definitely snowballed, and you know whenever you invite guests over and you kind of just throw everything into a closet instead of cleaning everything? Well, this basically became that closet that I just threw everything in, and now today is the day where I finally have to clean it up and also give this place a refresh. This was actually the first room in the house that we made over when we first moved in, and now I just feel like I need to give it some new life. So that is what we're doing in today's video. I really just want to feel inspired when I walk in here, so we're going to make it over, do some DIYs, and hopefully turn it into the art slash DIY studio of my dreams. And also I quickly want to thank June's Journey for sponsoring today's video. I'll talk a little bit more about them later. Let's get to cleaning. Okay, this is literally a box of stuff when we moved here, and I haven't even unpacked it all yet, and it's been over a year. There are just so many items that I forgot I put in here, like this paint that is definitely weeks old and dry by now. Emergency DIY toilet paper. Why do I always save bubble wrap? Like do I really need all this? I probably do, but I should store it more neatly. It is honestly crazy that we moved into this house with literally nothing, and now we have all of this stuff. This was supposed to be a place where I could go and get inspired to create, but now it's just become a stress-inducing storage space, and lately I've been in a little bit of a creative rut, so I definitely needed this room to actually function as a studio again. And a lot of this stuff is actually home DIY materials that I need to move into the workshop, and there's also just a bunch of things that I didn't know what to do with, and I think as a DIYer, it's just hard for me to let go of something because I always feel like I can make something out of it, which I know I'm not alone in this, and although I am going to get rid of a lot of these items, luckily I do have a storage room in the basement for all of the other stuff that I can at least organize all the things that I've hoarded up, so I will be keeping some of these, just not everything. I forgot how beautiful the lighting is in here. This definitely gets the most light in the whole house, and if you can see that in the back, I have this little sticker that I put on the window, and it basically refracts the light and makes little rainbows on the wall, and it's so pretty. Okay, we are making some progress, and I'm trying to figure out if I want to move things around in the room. Yesterday I went to Ikea and I picked up a few new items, so I'm going to figure out where to put those exactly, but while I work some more, I'm going to put in the clips here of our trip to Ikea. Okay, I'm getting distracted because there's all this Christmas stuff. It's so cute. I know, but I need it. Okay, we have the classic Alex drawers. I think I want to get this one so I can actually put paper in here and start working on some artwork and keeping it safe because I definitely need that. That's going in the cart. I can't even hold this. Oh my god. I'll be back for all this stuff. Good morning, guys. Last night's show was amazing, and this morning I just got some work done. I did a mood board, which I'm going to show you later, and I'm going to take a little break right now, especially since today I'm building a bunch of things, so I just want to take some time to unwind. I'm about to play some June's Journey on my phone. This is my new favorite game. They're the sponsor of today's video, and to give you a little bit of a background, June's Journey is basically a hidden objects mystery game. It's set in the 1920s, and you're following along the main character, June Parker. There's a whole storyline, and it really sucks you in because you're finding clues as you play each game. I'm a few chapters in right now, and so far I'm really loving it, especially the scenes that you're playing the games in. They're so beautiful and colorful, which also makes it a little bit tricky to find the objects because the art is so good, so I really appreciate that, and usually whenever I'm playing games, I turn off the background music, but this music is really good. I think it sets the mood so well, and it's also really calming, so I love that about it. There's also a decorating element to it, so if you're like me and love to create little worlds, then you're able to do that in this game as well. This is totally my type of game, and it's free to download on mobile and on tablets, so you can get it on Android or iOS or also on a desktop, so if you like to play on Facebook or Amazon, that's also available. So if you'd like to join me in playing June's Journey, I'll have the link down below for you guys so you guys can check it out, and if any of you are playing June's Journey right now, let me know which chapter you're on because I'm on chapter four right now, and it's getting really good. Gonna take one more sip of my tea, and then we can get to building. Okay, I'm ready. If it's heavy for you, how are you gonna make me carry this? Do you think it's gonna be difficult? As long as it's better than last time. I guess I'm supervising. Wait, you stabbed the actual box. Oops. Oh no. Oh, look at that. Clean. If you've been watching YouTube since your teens, you probably remember that every makeup guru had these Alex drawers for their makeup collections. I think this had to be one of the most popular items at Ikea, and I can totally see why. It is timeless and super functional. So there are two versions of this, but I personally went for the lower one just because it's flatter, and that way I can put in a bunch of paper and flat items that are just always stacked on top of each other. So these drawers are just what I needed to keep things in order and will also double as extra storage for art supplies on top. It's all done, and this took me a little under an hour and a half, so I think that is not too bad. Now I'm trying to figure out if I want to add these little labels onto it or not. I really can't decide. I think I'll ask you guys over on Instagram and then we'll put these on later if you guys like those. I just think these would be so helpful in organizing and also making this look more like a file cabinet rather than an Alex drawer, but we'll see. This desk has definitely been well loved. There are a lot of chips and things on the countertop, and I believe this is like one of the cheaper options that you can get from Ikea. So I think it's time for an upgrade. So I have the new one right here. I'm so excited to get it on, and it should be pretty easy to change because all you really need to do is unscrew these legs off, and then you can replace it pretty easily. So I'm going to do that real quick. I love the tones on it. Very nice. I love the new tabletop. I think it just warms up the area so much. It takes up so much visual space that right when I walked in, it felt kind of like a new room, so it just shows you the power of just switching out one thing. I also wanted to add an easel in here, so I'm gonna go and pick that up and also grab some new art supplies, and that way we can work on our next DIY. I'm so excited for this. I got a new Magnolia. Is it the Magnolia journal? But this is the fall issue, and it looks beautiful, so I can't wait to read this. I also grabbed a clear palette. I think this just looks so cool, and once you put paint on it, it's gonna look even more amazing. Also grabbed some brushes, and then something that I realized I don't have are primary colors in nice paint. So usually I just buy tubes of color already, but I figured if you have the primary colors, you can make any color that you want, so this is a must-have. And of course we have our easel. This one was on sale, so I will link it down below for you guys, but I am planning on putting it in this corner over here and then kind of rearranging this whole area. If you guys remember, when I first did this makeover, I basically just filled up all the empty spaces with plants because I really didn't have any furniture. I wanted to be able to grow in this room, and I definitely have done a lot of growing since then. I just did not take the time to accommodate for it, and now that we've been here for a while, it's about time I get something that I will actually use, like an easel. This is going to help me create more art, get my creative juices going, and also straighten up my back a little bit more, which is definitely not a bad idea, and I think it really sets the tone for this room and what I hope to accomplish in here. We aren't gonna waste any time with this new easel, so I'm gonna get started by working on a painting for this room. So I took a canvas that I already had and then just prepped it by brushing gesso all over it. I'm gonna be making a painting later, so I just prepped it right now, but while we wait for that, I'm actually gonna get started on the next DIY, which is a picture ledge for this back wall over here. I love having these frames, but I really want an area where I can just put a bunch of different artwork and switch it out constantly, so that's what we're building today. It should be pretty easy. We're gonna head down to the workshop and get started. When we were at Ikea, I did see a bunch of their picture ledges, but I didn't really like the length of them, and also the finishes on them weren't exactly what I was looking for, so I thought to myself, it's probably really easy to make, so I basically went onto YouTube, watched a bunch of tutorials, and turns out it is really easy to make, and all you need are three pieces of wood. So I have some select pine here. These have really nice, sharp, straight edges. That way, you don't have to rip them down anymore, especially if you don't have a table saw. I don't have one, so this was the best option. You can also use pre-primed pine if you want to, especially if you want to paint them and don't want a wood finish, but of course, I love my wood tones, so that is what I'm sticking with. So I have a two-inch board, a three-inch board, and then a four-inch board, and it basically just depends on how deep you want the shelves. I really didn't want these to be too big, so I stuck with the four inches, but of course, you can customize this to however you want. These boards were six feet each, and I basically just cut them down to 54 inches to fit my space, but of course, you can cut it down to whatever size you need. When I was watching tutorials, I saw that someone just stacked all three of them on top of each other and just cut it that way, but I just don't trust myself, so I just did each one individually, but you do you. I am so happy that you guys have a pretty background to look at while I work. In case you missed it, I did this whole makeover in my last video. I'm still working on finishing the workshop, so make sure that you stay tuned to see this whole area complete. Everything is cut, so I'm going to assemble it now. So we're going to take the middle width here, which is the three-inch one, and that is going to be the back piece that is going to go against the wall, and then our smallest piece is going to go right in the front here as a little bit of a lip, and that is basically going to be the construction of this. If you're making a shorter one, you could probably get away with just brad nailing and clamping everything, but since this is a little bit on the longer side, I'm going to be extra careful and screw in through the back and then brad nail the front. We're going to add pilot holes along the back piece about 11 inches apart, and then I'm going to line those up with the bottom piece to mark it off and match our pilot holes, and to keep this all together, I added wood glue along the edge and just added some screws. And again, I did see some people get away with just using brad nails on the backside. This will work if your shelf is smaller and thinner, but the one I'm making is pretty long, so I'm using screws just to keep it extra secure. Now I'm just adding a lip to the front side, and I'm just using some wood glue and then brad nailing that together. Look at how cute this turned out! It took me under an hour to build this, and it looks so good. You could totally leave it unfinished like this, but I feel like I have a lot of light woods going on right now, so I am going to stain it. I'm going to start with some wood conditioner, then I'll do two coats of stain, and then poly. I wanted to make sure that this was secure on the walls, so I'm going to mark off where the studs are, and that way we can just level and center everything out to get our new picture ledge into place. I just put up a few pieces just to test this out, but it is looking so good! I love how easy this was, and now I can put up so much different pieces of artwork and easily switch it in and out, which just makes it so great. I'm about to break in the new easel, and I'm so excited. I'm planning to put a lot of artwork in this room, especially on the picture ledge, so I found a few prints, but I wanted something really personal. I was searching high and low for like a Vietnamese-inspired piece, and I really couldn't find anything, so I thought that I would just paint my own and put it on display. Lately, I've been really obsessed with flower market prints, so I'll put a few examples on the screen here, but I want to do something similar. I really love these because you can customize the flower as well as the city that you're painting it of, so that is what I'm going to do today. I'm going to start with mapping out the rectangle in the middle, and then work my way outwards, figure out all the text and all the flowers that I'm gonna put on here. I'm much more of a drawer than a painter, but there's just something so therapeutic about the process, and maybe it's because it's messier and also makes it more fun. I love the process of mixing up colors and getting it onto the canvas, and this piece in particular is just something I wanted to create, especially because I didn't see any flower market poster designs that featured flowers from Vietnam, so I took this as an opportunity to create my own. This painting is representative of my cultural background, and these yellow flowers are apricot blossoms. They're kind of similar to cherry blossoms, but you'll see that the petals are yellow, and then the center filaments are red, so it makes a really beautiful contrast. They represent good luck, wealth, health, and happiness, and love, and can especially be seen during Lunar New Year, which is the biggest holiday in Vietnam. And I don't think I've mentioned this on YouTube yet, but we actually booked tickets to go to Vietnam around the Lunar New Year next year, and I am seriously just so excited to go, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I see these flowers in person when we're there. It has been six years since the last time I was there, and I just can't wait to be reunited with my grandma and my family and just explore more of Vietnam. A big reason why I wanted to do this refresh is because I feel like when I first did this makeover, I was just so focused on making the room look good that I didn't take more time to add personal touches into my home, like artwork, which is kind of ironic because I was fearless when it came to adding my personal style through things like DIY trim work, painting the walls, or adding a new tile, but I was afraid to commit to something as simple as putting up artwork and personal things. So this time around, I want to add more of what I love and things that really define me. I think that is what really makes a space feel more lived in, and now that we've actually lived here for a while, I'm just ready to take our home to that next stage. Okay, so here I actually changed my mind and decided to make the border white, so I went back in, taped it all up, and then I just went around the whole border. This was pretty easy to do, but it was definitely an extra step that I didn't need to take if I had just made my mind up in the first place, but it did end up working out, and then for the text, I ended up using my Cricut machine to cut out these words. I wanted them to look like they were printed onto the canvas, so this worked so well. The city that I'm placing here is called Da Nang, which is where my dad is from, and I visit there every time I go, and I just cannot wait to be back. Did I just make this? You guys, this came out better than I even thought. I love that this looks like a poster print, so I'm debating if I want to frame it or not. Let me know in the comments if you think I should frame it. I was a little afraid it wouldn't turn out, so I'm really happy with how it looks, and I'm also thinking about making some of these for you guys in the future. Let me know what you think. Okay, you guys see these curtains? These were never supposed to be a permanent addition to this room. I just used them because they were from our apartment, and I just really needed some curtains, but they're really, like, cheap little thin curtains. Plus, I feel like these are a bright white, so it kind of cools down the room, and I want to warm them up, so we're gonna switch out the curtains, and I feel like just this one little change is instantly going to lift the room and warm it up. Look at the difference, you guys. Before and after. Before and after. So much better. The last thing I'm gonna add to this room is actually a bench. This is gonna double as a low console table that will fit right under the windows, and we're gonna put a bunch of plants on here. This room gets the best light, so I think they're gonna be really happy, and I really do want it to feel like a jungle in here, so we're just gonna place plants everywhere, and then I'm gonna deck out our new ledge with some artwork and stacking frames on top of each other to create a really beautiful layered look. From coming into a blank canvas in this room to doing the first makeover in this house, this phase has definitely come a long way, and after resetting and doing this refresh, I finally feel like I have my dream DIY and art studio. Okay, guys, what do you think of the new DIY studio? I am just so in love with it. This whole process is exactly what I needed to get out of my creative rut, and I just feel so inspired when I walk in here. I hope this video gave you some inspo, especially if you were in the same spot as me and just need a little push to get yourself to where you want to be. I cannot wait to continue making projects in this room, and if you like the video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up down below. Thank you again to June's Journey for sponsoring this video. If you guys want to check it out and download the game, I'll have all the info down below, and that is it for today's video. Thank you so much for watching. Stay inspired, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!